How Does Solar Panels Work?

Solar power for homes and business

How Does Solar Panels Work? - Solar panels work by capturing the sun’s rays and converting their photons into electrons. This produces current that can be converted into electricity. Other devices, including a meter and a battery, may also be part of a solar panel system.

If you’re considering installing solar power for home or business, you may be interested in knowing how they function. How do they take sunlight and turn it into electricity that can power an entire home?

Solar Panels are the Key

The commercial or house solar panels that are installed on the roof of your home or business are the key to the entire system. These panels or cells are made out of photo voltaic cells that contain silicon and other materials. When the sun’s rays hit these panels, they capture the photons in the rays and convert them into electrons, or DC current. This current is then passed on to an inverter, which transforms it into AC current, which is used to power most devices, including computers, televisions, appliances, etc.

Installation

Solar panels on houses have to be installed where they can get the most sunlight. That’s why they’re usually placed on all sides of a building’s roof—as the earth moves during the day, the rays will move from panel to panel. Some other types of solar panels are installed on frames that tilt or rotate throughout the day.

The Net Energy Meter

To see how much energy your solar power for homes has produced, a net energy meter is installed. This meter will track all power used. In some systems, any power that’s not immediately needed is sent to the electrical grid to the power company. In other systems, it’s stored in a battery for use later. The net energy meter also indicates when power was drawn from the electrical grid to supplement your system when the solar panels were unable to generate enough power. This often happens on overcast days or at night.

The Battery

If your system has a battery, it will store any excess power your solar power system creates. These batteries can hold a good amount of energy, and you may be able to generate enough electricity during the day to power your home all night.Commercial solar panels in Melbourne can often generate enough power to run an entire business during standard work hours.

Other Systems

Other solar panel systems contain specialized components. For example, solar water heating systems direct any energy the generate to a heater that heats a water tank, while concentrated solar panels include large reflective devices to concentrate the sun’s rays, creating more heat that is used to generate even more energy.

1

A Photovoltaic module
transforms solar energy into electricity.

2

The inverter converts DC electricity generated by the photovoltaic module into AC electricity and automatically controls the entire system